Fiorentina beat Basel 3-1, thanks to two goals from Nico Gonzalez and one from Barak in the last minute of the second extra time and won the Conference League final which will be played on 7 June in Prague against West Ham. At St.Jacob Park the first half started with Fiorentina struggling in the offensive phase in managing to create dangers in the Basel area and in the defensive phase, with the many errors and turnovers from Amrabat and Dodo, in trying to contain the restarts of the Swiss. However, as the minutes went by, the intensity of Vogel’s team decreased, especially with Augustin, Diouf and Amdouni who pressed a lot on the outside lanes from the first minute, especially on Gonzalez and Brekalo. The match doesn’t seem to change the subject with all-out pressure from Basel and this doesn’t allow Fiorentina to play as they would like. In the 25th minute, an interesting cross from Biraghi, Castrovilli headed in and headed the ball into the back.
Fiorentina lights up. In the 31st minute the Italian team became dangerous: Biraghi’s cross from the left at the far post for Gonzalez who headed in early on Calafiori looking for the winning diagonal but the ball went just wide. A minute later Bonaventura came close to scoring with a shot from inside the Basel area but goalkeeper Hitz managed to deflect for a corner. And on the serve (34′) Fiorentina took the lead: Biraghi’s corner kick from the right, Gonzalez left alone in the center of the area headed off and put in without problems. Fiorentina are now masters of the field and in the 41st minute they go very close to doubling the lead: Gonzalez sends Dodo to cross, header by Bonaventura in the opposing area and goalkeeper Hitz exalts himself with a great counter-time save At the start of the second half, the Italian leaves Brekalo locker rooms and inserts the French Ikone trying to give more unpredictability to their offensive phase but Basel returns to the field with the desire to immediately find the equalizer which arrives in the 9th minute: free-kick from midfield, Amdouni bypasses Igor in the Viola area where he advances alone and beats Terracciano. A minute later, the Italian recalls Igor himself to the bench (already booked) and inserts Ranieri. Three minutes go by and the Viola defender also gets a yellow card for a foul on Augustin in midfield.
Fiorentina, however, does not give up. He throws himself back into Basel’s half in search of the goal which deservedly arrives in the 27’st minute again with Nico Gonzalez: following the development of a corner kick, the ball crosses the whole area, Amdouni also commits a hand ball in the area, but actually he accommodates the ball for the Argentine winger who sends it into the net to Hitz’s left. The match changes again, Fiorentina believes it and goes close to scoring in the 36’st minute with Milenkovic good at jumping higher than anyone and hitting the Viola’s corner with his header but the ball goes just over the crossbar. After three minutes of added time, and the 2-1 for the Swiss in the first leg, the match goes into extra time. The Italian inserts Jovic at the center of the attack in place of Cabral who failed to shine in his former stadium. Three minutes and Fiorentina very close to scoring with Jovic who headed a central cross from Amrabat with a sure blow but Hitz was overcome with a great save.
At the beginning of the second extra time, the Italian recalls Bonaventura, author of an excellent game, and inserts Barak. In the 107th minute of play, the match stopped because a Fiorentina fan in the away sector fell ill. It was the Viola players who were warming up under that sector who called the attention of the doctors who intervened. After a ten-minute stop, while the fan was being transferred to the hospital, the match resumed. In full stoppage time Jovic made an incredible mistake who finds himself alone in front of Hitz but his short-range volley shot ends over the crossbar. Fiorentina believed in it, didn’t give up and won the final in the last minute of injury time with Barak doing well in recovering a short clearance in the area and beating Hitz out of the box amidst the joy and delirium of the Viola fans present.
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2023-05-18 22:47:39
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